Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Previous: The Time Warrior
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Ah, the gentle tweeting of birds over a quiet London...a quiet, very empty London...
Unimpressed Sarah Jane is unimpressed.
The Doctor using an actual telephone booth? Now there's something you don't see every day.
Our first civilians! Although I bet that van is full of UNIT men.
"...There's no bus."
"There's no anything. Nothing's moving."
Except that key you've become fond of spinning around, Three.
"Perhaps it's Sunday. Great Britain always closes on Sunday." And after 5 PM.
Wow, that's a lot of litter in the street. A lotta litta, if you will. #sorry
Considering how empty the city is, I'm surprised that apparently only one dude is going around and looting.
Although if we're talking about looting in the '70s, I think New York is the place you'd want to be. Or not want to be.
can we please talk about how sarah jane was perfectly willing to chase down a guy with a gun #bamf
Although I do love that her second reaction is "do the sensible thing and call the police."
woah WOAH IS THAT BLOOD OR DOES THE ROBBER HAVE HALF HIS FACE MISSING
Ah, UNIT HQ at last. Hello Benton, Brig!
"Sir, five more looters have been picked up in Hyde Park." Ah, thank you, Yates. I figured there was more than one.
Wait, *organized gangs* of looters? How long has this been going on??
And I'll bet that's one of them now. Time for some Time-Fu.
This story is actually really dark so far? Or maybe that's because we haven't made it to the beautifully shoddy dinosaurs yet.
...apparently I said the magic word because there's a pterosaur of some sort right now.
Shoo, dactyl, shoo!
(My dinosaur phase was easily about 15 years ago, so I may use a lot of incorrect terminology for the duration of the serial.)
"Waiting for this mysterious scientific adviser of yours to turn up?"
"That's right sir."
"I suppose he'll just materialize out of thin air"
"...Very probably."
Seeing the Brig taking orders instead of giving them is really strange. Then again, he REALLY doesn't want to take THESE orders.
Well, this is certainly a new take on Doctor And Companion Turn Up At The Wrong Place And The Wrong Time And Get Arrested.
"Age?"
"Twenty-three."
SARAH JANE IS MY AGE? AND SHE'S ALREADY SO MUCH COOLER THAN ME.
Aww, Three's having fun with his mugshots.
"Now, what about one of both of us?" no it's too soon after Jo left I can't go calling you "cuties" yet
That was actually quite a nice building explosion. Not so sure about the T-rex, though, if that is a T-rex. Maybe an allosaurus?
I'm not sure who I should be giving a bigger You Tried star to: the production team for the dinosaurs, or the UNIT chaps fighting them.
"Good grief." For those times when you're so shocked that you need to borrow someone else's catchphrase.
There goes Three's classic "if military bureaucracy had a face, I'd punch it" face.
Welp. When the going gets rough, consort with criminals, apparently.
"So much for honor amongst thieves." So that's what happens when you bring an aikido to a gun fight.
can we please talk about jon pertwee's face
Ah, I see they've started calling him "Doctor Who" in the credits instead of "Dr. Who."
Also, aww, that poor t-rex has a broken neck.
Okay, I promise I'll keep the cheep shots at the dinosaurs effects to a minimum from here on out.
Umm...guys, unless you're trying to bring that building down on top of it, might I suggest shooting AT the dinosaur?
("Swinging from Pertwee's neck is a magnifying glass pendant. It was a parting gift from Katy Manning.") BBYS
"BACK! BACK, ACCURSED WIZARD!" ...well, that's one way to make an entrance. Hello there. Why do you look like an adult English Jamie?
"For a moment there, time went backwards!" IRL rewind button.
That one time Three almost chopped the Brig in the face. (Huh, he almost got his wish from earlier.)
"It's a color-code, Doctor. We're using red pins for tyrannosaurus, blue for triceratops, green for the stegosaurus, and pink for your pterodactyl."
"...Thank you, Benton."
"We therefore evacuated the entire area and set up this temporary HQ, which you can see from the map is on the periphery of the zone."
Actually Brig...from the paintings on the walls, it looks more like an elementary school.
"Who's this?"
"Sir, this is the Doctor, our scientific adviser."
"Ohh, we've been waiting for you, you know. May I ask where you've been?"
"...Certainly."
"...Well?"
"You can ask, but I can't guarantee that you'll get a reply."
I love how Three is easily the tallest person in the room, despite technically being doubly outranked.
"How much do you think we'll learn from a dead dinosaur?" ...quite a lot, actually.
Awww, stegosaurus! Don't shoot it, it's a herbivore! Okay yeah it could mess you up pretty bad with those tail spikes but...herbivore!
Yates seems to've taken to Sarah Jane quite quickly. Probably missing having Jo to talk to. Seems rather happy about London being empty too.
Well, certainly looks like someone has a cosmic remote control with a temporal rewind button around here.
Yup, there's our Mysterious Presumably-Underground Lab.
"Tell you what, I'll fix you up with a temporary pass." I keep forgetting that Sarah Jane doesn't have the same UNIT clearance that Jo did.
On today's episode of Oh So That's Where That Gif Came From: Jon Pertwee's Collapsible Hair.
"Our friend from UNIT is here." Wait...oh no, please don't tell me it's...
YATES NO WHY
On a lighter note, aww, Three finally has an interruption he wants to stop and chat with.
"I'll do nothing to harm the Doctor, nor will I allow him to be harmed!" Whew, at least Yates has some priorities straight.
("John Levene asked Pertwee not to look at him while saying the words 'large, placid, and stupid'.") omg
I wonder if "closing shot of t-rex roaring" was the "closing shot of Colin Baker's horrified face" of this serial.
Three...Three this is not a good time to suddenly be falling over...
Yates to the rescue? Yates to the rescue!
"I agreed to delay his experiments, not to kill him!" Thanks, but if you could explain *how* the module was killing Three, that'd be nice.
That was the most pained "I'll do what I can" I think I've ever heard from someone in Classic Who.
"Mind you, that creature isn't what I wanted at all. What I really wanted was a Brontosaurus."
"What's the difference?"
...brig no
Atta girl, Sarah Jane! See Three, this is why you'll be glad to have an investigative journalist for a companion.
I'll bet anything this Dr. Whitaker is one of the scientists that Yates is working with.
I'm not sure if that look the Brig is giving Sarah Jane is one of admiration or condescension.
Now the question is, is Sarah Jane going to stay behind anyway and catch Yates in the act?
I guess not. But wow, that's an impressive "oh my god why isn't anyone listening to me" face.
Aaaaand just when I thought the general was actually helping her out, he goes and makes that sinister aside to the camera when she leaves.
Okay, Sarah Jane might not just be about to catch Yates up to something, she might even get a photo of it.
Also, her gleeful "yay pictures!" face is completely adorable.
wait WAIT SARAH JANE I THINK THE FLASHES ARE WAKING IT UP
RUN GET OUT OF THERE OH MY GOD YATES PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU LOCKED THE DOOR
Whew, Three to the rescue! And I have a sneaking suspicion that that warehouse is about to come crashing down.
Sabotage is duly noted. Now we just to wait and see how long it takes them to solve the mystery.
I love how Benton doesn't even put up much of a protest when Sarah Jane has a plan. Just business as usual by this point.
"Wasn't there a plan once to build underground quarters for the government in the event of an atomic war?"
"Yes, back in the Cold War days!"
Ah, hello UNIT Dating, fancy running into you again.
Interesting how the InfoText gives a brief summary of the Cold War, even though I imagine everyone watching this DVD would know what it was.
"It's right here! It must be under this building!"
"...After you, Miss Smith."
PLOT TWIST #SECRETTUNNEL
Aaaand what's the betting that this room with the weird flashing blue lights is for memory wiping?
OKAY NEVER MIND SHE'S ON A SPACESHIP NOW WHAT?
"We left Earth three months ago!" ...well I can't say I saw this coming.
Ohhhhhhh wait! I'll bet that room was a time machine and Sarah Jane's been thrown into the future.
"Someone attempted to murder Miss Smith by locking her in the hanger with the creature!" Just learning about this now, eh Yates?
Okay seriously who ISN'T in on this Golden Age plot by this point??
"This new car of mine is exactly what I need." omg is that the Whomobile?
Meanwhile, back in space, Sarah Jane...recognizes everyone she's meeting on the ship?
I wonder why Three's clipboard says "Don't Forget" at the top in really faint letters.
Huh. Either Three's a good lockpick even without his sonic, or he inherited Jo's skeleton keys.
And now it's time for a game of Trap the Doctor in the Maze!
"He's in the lift. Is everything ready?" They're not going to try to gas him, are they?
Nahhh, that would be too easy. Let's do it the fun way and pluck a pterodactyl out of time to eat him!
Doctor used Mop! It's not very effective....
"You've got a warped view of things."
"You mustn't say such things!"
"I'll say whatever I like!"
"Re-educated" is never a good word to hear in these stories...
I'll bet Three and the Brig are going to go to the broom cupboard and find it's been switched out somehow.........yep.
Welp, the minister's driver was also the underground scientist the whole time.
"If she doesn't respond to re-education, we'll have to destroy her." We'd really prefer it if you didn't do that.
I think a better title for this serial might be Oh Sure They're Nice Now But You Just Wait.
Well, at least someone in the base appears to agree with Yates' standing on not murdering people.
Yup, one of the scientists is Whitaker! Although I'm surprised he's decided to just call Three directly and introduce himself.
That big humming orb thing certainly isn't suspicious at all, nope.
Oh hey, a stegosaurus! "There's your monster-maker, Brigadier, caught in the act!" ...OH.
"Doctor, you're under arrest." Only two episodes left, so that shouldn't last long.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW SARAH JANE SMITH IS A BADASS
Well, it's good to know the Brig isn't entirely on board with the whole arresting Three business.
"So it was you, Mike."
"I'm sorry, Doctor."
:(
Poor Benton, he knows he's going to come off badly in this so he just gets it overwith right away.
Anyone else getting a City of Death vibe from that localized time control machine?
Meanwhile in space, Mission Impossible theme intensifies.
Sarah Jane, I reeeeaaally wouldn't recommend the pushing of random buttons. Especially in space.
"...Well don't just stand there, Benton, put yourself under arrest!" #briggetsthingsdone
I take back my earlier comment: thank you for pushing those random buttons, Sarah Jane, now that we know they don't actually do anything.
Sarah Jane Smith: ready to risk stepping out into the vacuum of space with no protection to prove a point. Dang, girl.
LIIIIIES, IT'S ALL LIIIIIIEEESSS.
Oooo, is it time for a car chase with the Whomobile?
Wait, of course that's not the Whomobile, it's a UNIT jeep.
Bro, you're on a manhunt, I'm not sure this is the best time for a smoke. On the other hand it'll help Three escape, so please have a smoke.
Whew, at least Sarah Jane made it back to UNIT HQ alright.
Uh oh, counting the minutes before the general turns on her...
*gun* Ahhh, there we go.
Today's traffic advisory: dinosaurs. Dinosaurs everywhere.
Run, Three! Run while that poor brontosaurus is bleeding...water...?
"You realize this is mutiny?"
"There's no question of mutiny, I'm just doing my job."
Can we please give a round of applause for the Brig?
Three found Sarah Jane's note! It's all coming together now...
"Excuse me sir, but um...are we evacuating or not?"
"No."
"Oh. Well in that case sir, um...what should I do?"
"Oh go and make us all a cup of tea."
YATES NO PUT THE GUN DOWN
Ah, this is your first trip through a ventilation shaft, isn't is, Sarah Jane?
"There's no alternative!"
"Yes there is: take the world that you've got and try and make something of it. It's not too late."
Ah there's our teBENTON TO THE RESCUE
Aww, Brig, don't blow up the stegosaurus, it's friendly!
"Never thought I'd find myself blowing up a Tube station. If you're wrong Doctor I'm going to have a job explaining this to London Transport."
"Well, don't worry, Brigadier, I'm never wrong."
Hey Brig you think you can keep that triceratops busy for me while I rig these explosives k thx
Aww, dino doesn't like the flare.
That sounded like a much bigger explosion for the amount of light it gave off.
Benton's doing a lot of tackling people with guns in this story, isn't he?
"You'll be court-martialed for this, Sergeant!"
"Yes sir! Very sorry sir!"
AND THEY CUT AWAY RIGHT BEFORE HE DECKED FINCH IN THE FACE
(okay, no idea if he actually does or not, but the implication and the hand-raise was pretty heavy)
Sarah Jane's got the people out of the "spaceship," Three's in the base, we've got five minutes to fix everything.
WHITAKER THREW THE SWITCH COME ON THREE TIME TO TIME LORD IT UP IN HERE
"NO, HE'S REVERSED THE POLARITY!" Famous last words.
"It's not the oil and the filth and poisonous chemicals that are the real cause of pollution, Brigadier. It's simply greed." #themessage
So Yates is resigned and off on sick leave? At least he's getting help.
"Still I'll say one thing: not many sergeants get the chance to punch a general on the nose!"
"Just don't make a habit of it, Benton."
Hey Sarah Jane let me tell you about this awesome planet... not listeninnnnngggg Doctor...
Next: Death to the Daleks